Many experiences have exhausted my energy, damaged my sense of self-worth, and discouraged me from sharing my gifts and talents. I often feel like the fig tree that struggled to bear fruit.

God’s compassion is revealed through the kind people who don’t give up on me, but support me in times of trouble and help me to find the courage to keep going, to find a way to bear good, loving, peace-filled fruit.

[The gardener] said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave [the fig tree] for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.” Luke 13:8-9a